1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved human T or B cell lines and a process for producing immunologically active substances using the same.
2. Discussion of Background
It has heretofore been known that human T and B cell lines are stimulated by immunologically active substance inducers such as lectin, etc. to produce soluble, immunologically active substances such as .alpha.-, .beta.- or .gamma.-interferons, interleukin-2, interleukin-1, B cell growth factor, CSF, etc. In most cases, however, these human T and B cell lines will not produce immunologically active substances unless they are stimulated by immunologically active substance inducers such as phorbol ester, lectin, etc. Accordingly, somewhat complicated operations such as adding inducers to the medium have been hitherto required for the production of immunologically active substances. However, the production of immunologically active substances through the addition or incorporation of inducers to the medium was not proven stable.
Furthermore, the productivity of immunologically active substances by conventional human T or B cell lines was not always satisfactory in the past.